BUZZ-U.S. STOCKS ON THE MOVE-Cambrex, Twitter, Rentrak, Yelp

Reuters Staff

8 Min Read

(For faster updates on individual market-movers, Eikon users please use search string "STXBZ US"; for the Day Ahead newsletter, link.reuters.com/mex49s; for the Morning News Call newsletter, link.reuters.com/nex49s) U.S. stock indexes were up on Friday, after a stronger-than-expected monthly payrolls report lent weight to a belief that the U.S. Federal Reserve would hike interest rates in June. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.25 percent at 17,929.67, the S&P 500 was up 0.39 percent at 2,070.65 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.38 percent at 4,783.14.

** TWITTER INC, $48.09, +16.55 pct

The microblogging website company said on Thursday that it was signing up users as quickly as most of last year after a fourth-quarter slowdown. Twitter beat Wall Street’s profit and revenue targets in the fourth quarter. User growth weakened in the quarter, but picked up in the new year, Chief Executive Dick Costolo said in a statement.

At least 12 brokerages raised their price targets by as much as $10 to as high as $67.

** LINKEDIN CORP, $270.38, +13.62 pct

The corporate networking site reported a higher-than-expected 44 percent jump in quarterly revenue as more businesses used its services to assess candidates for employment.

** GOPRO INC, $49, -9.88 pct

The action camera maker forecast a current-quarter profit that could miss Wall Street expectations and said its chief operating officer was resigning.

At least four brokerages cut their price targets on the stock by as much as $28 to as low as $35.

** RENTRAK CORP, $51.27, -36.33 pct

The viewership rating provider reported lower-than-expected revenue for the third quarter. The company also forecast fourth-quarter revenue growth of 70-80 percent for its TV Everywhere business. “Rentrak lowered its near-term outlook,” Brean Capital analyst Todd Mitchell said. Rentrak was cautious on its previous forecast of 80 percent revenue growth in TV Everywhere through 2016.

** YELP INC, $45.26, -21.25 pct

The consumer review website operator signed up fewer subscribers and business customers in the fourth quarter, raising concerns about the company’s slowing growth in the United States and its ability to boost revenue from overseas markets.

** OHR PHARMACEUTICAL INC, $6.9101, -9.55 pct

The eye drug developer’s offering of 3.7 million shares was priced at $6.75 per share, a discount of about 11.6 percent to the stock’s Thursday close.

** CHINA HGS REAL ESTATE INC, $3.1926, -20.38 pct

The Chinese real estate developer’s revenue fell 25 percent in the first quarter as it sold fewer properties.

** SWIFT ENERGY CO, $2.66, +2.31 pct

** PENN WEST PETROLEUM LTD, $2.26, +1.80 pct

** ENERGY XXI LTD, $3.94, +7.95 pct

** KEY ENERGY SERVICES, $2.18, +3.81 pct

** GOODRICH PETROLEUM CORP, $2.997, +1.94 pct

The U.S.-listed shares of oil producers and oilfield service providers rose as Brent crude traded almost $2 higher on Friday, on track for its second weekly increase, as fighting in Libya and stronger economic signals from the United States helped futures rebound from near-six-year lows.

Raymond James downgraded the stock to “outperform” from “strong buy” and cut its price target to $17 from $19.

** FIRST BANCORP, $6.33, +3.26 pct

Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc raised their rating on the Puerto Rican bank’s shares to “outperform” from “market perform” and their price target to $7.75 from $6 after the bank reported a 78 percent rise in fourth quarter net income attributable to shareholders.

** DEVRY EDUCATION GROUP, $37.39, -15.50 pct

The for-profit education provider’s second quarter profit missed estimates, hurt by lower student signups at its DeVry medical school and DeVry University.

** MAXWELL TECHNOLOGIES INC, $6.5501, -20.60 pct

The company, which makes components to store electrical energy, said it expected its first-quarter revenue to fall by up to 35 percent from the fourth quarter, hurt by the Chinese New Year holiday shutdown, pricing pressure in the Chinese bus market and higher Swiss franc exchange rate.

** MOELIS & CO, $30.05, -6.06 pct

Susquehanna Financial Group cut its price target on the investment bank’s stock to $37 from $39 after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings came below analysts’ estimates.

** PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA, $6.48, -8.86 pct

The Brazilian oil company will tap current Banco do Brasil SA Chief Executive Aldemir Bendine as its next CEO, according to a report from GloboNews television on Friday.

** EXPEDIA INC, $78.02, -11.34 pct

The travel services company’s fourth-quarter profit fell more than 30 percent from a year ago, well below analysts’ expectations, partly due to the stronger dollar and intense competition in China.

** TROVAGENE INC, $4.617, -21.08 pct

The cancer monitoring device maker announced an offering of 4.4 million shares to raise $20 million.

** PANDORA MEDIA INC, $15.15, -17.71 pct

The online music streaming service’s sales fell short of market estimates in the holiday quarter, hurt by weaker-than-expected advertising revenue.

** MOODY‘S CORP, $98.1, +5.18 pct

The credit ratings agency reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, driven by strong growth in its analytics business and higher debt issuance in the United States.

** TEMPUR SEALY INTERNATIONAL INC, $50.69, -9.24 pct

The mattress maker forecast 2015 earnings of $2.70-$3.10 per share, below the average analyst estimate of $3.34, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

** GRUBHUB INC, $40.99, +3.09 pct

The company forecast better-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, bolstered by two acquisitions that will allow it to deliver food from 3,000 restaurants direct to U.S. customers.

At least seven brokerages raised their price targets on the stock by as much as $6 to as high as $50.

** CBOE HOLDINGS INC, $62.14, -4.61 pct

The operator of the largest U.S. stock-options market reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit as higher expenses offset a surge in trading volumes.

** NAVIOS MARITIME PARTNERS LP, $12.97, -5.40 pct

The dry cargo vessels operator said on Thursday it would offer 4 million common shares. The offer size represents about 5 percent of the company’s outstanding shares as of Oct. 27, according to Thomson Reuters data.

** CAMBREX CORP, $29.37, +24.82 pct

The drugmaker posted adjusted earnings of 89 cents per share, higher than average analyst estimate of 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Cambrex said it expected 2015 sales to rise by 16-20 percent, excluding the impact of foreign currency.

The stock rose as much as 26 percent to $29.68, its highest in over a decade.

** BUFFALO WILD WINGS INC, $193.55, +7.35 pct

At least four brokerages raised their price targets on the restaurant operator’s stock. The company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and profit but same-store sales rose 5.9 percent at company-owned restaurants.

** HARRIS CORP, $74.9, +7.79 pct

** EXELIS INC, $23.94, +35.18 pct

Harris said it would buy Exelis in a deal valued at about $4.75 billion, combining two big suppliers to the U.S. military at a time when the government is squeezing spending on defense.

** ELIZABETH ARDEN INC, $14.92, -2.99 pct

The company reported a bigger-than-expected 20 percent drop in quarterly revenue, citing lower sales of its celebrity fragrances and changes to the way its beauty products are distributed in China.

** VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC, $49.08, +2.55 pct

** FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORP, $7.659, -0.53 pct

Verizon said it would sell its wireline assets to Frontier for $10.54 billion in cash and sell and lease cell phone towers for around $5 billion to American Tower in a deal that would help it pay off recent wireless spectrum purchases. (Compiled by Avik Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)